Dear Bungie,
I read your TWAB, and your justification of increasing the Season Pass price is because "our teams continue to invest in crafting compelling Seasonal experiences for the year of Lightfall." However, the reason your teams have to create a "compelling seasonal experience" is because Lightfall didn't have a story, no satisfaction, and lacked a "compelling experience."
You can't charge players more because you have to fix your own mistake. You already know this though. For example; when Witch Queen was delayed (the 2nd expansion in a row to be delayed) you developed and released the 30th Anniversary for free to players to give us some fresh content to hold us over until Witch Queen's release. Of course there was a paid option for cosmetics, but the activity and weapons were free. How is it now, that you have unlearned that lesson, and are now going to charge your players extra for delivering a story that should have come out months ago?
I know the community will be upset because "Prices, high. Me, no like." but from a logical point, this doesn't fly. Unless the seasonal stories this year completely blow all other non-expansion content out of the water (because they can't just be exceptional, they have to be exceptional to make up for what Lightfall lacked) then this isn't justified, noble, or reasonable.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Guardian
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Edited by Mark, Scholar of Stars: 5/5/2023 9:08:34 AM[quote][...] from a logical point, this doesn't fly. Unless the seasonal stories this year completely blow all other non-expansion content out of the water (because they can't just be exceptional, they have to be exceptional to make up for what Lightfall lacked) then this isn't justified, noble, or reasonable.[/quote] Bungie doesn't need to be logical, noble - what a big word, or reasonable. All they need is a contract, people sign to access their content what makes, from my point of view, a "prey" for them. And, by the way, judging by industrial standards, that's normal. I know, there are other developers who care and just to be fair, I think most of the developers at Bungie have the same attitude but a few at the top can't get enough and can't get enough fast enough. Speaking of can't, they can: they can resell content from the original Destiny, they can remove content from Destiny 2, they can increase their prices - just look at the current Deluxe Edition with a $20 plus. They can! But it looks like that Eververse, remember what Smith said as it was implemented - practically the same as now about the pass - has gone down in sale numbers. Because if not they would not change to a more aggressive model forcing people into Silver. Same goes for Lightfall + Annual Pass with almost 3,000 Mostly Negative reviews on Steam. At the end of the day it's a business, which needs money for functionality, and I wish them nothing bad but I'm not that sure how Bungie see's his clients today in the same spot. I haven't played since six weeks - I bought the Deluxe Edition. I think I'm done. Maybe I continue with a minimum for what I paid for but I can't imagine to continue like that. One thing is for sure: I will not buy Matter, same about Halo and it's hard to convince myself to invest in another DLC next year. Now I posted my frustration. - Sincerly
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I wanna know why you try to say "lighfall failed" when it's the most sold destiny expansion xD
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Do you think Lightfall is a failure because it lacks a “compelling experience”? I can guarantee you that isn’t a metric by which Bungie is measuring their success here…
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Bungie - "Oh yeah? Watch us."
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"Lightfall failed" ... they made a billion dollars; yes it sucked, but money is all they care about, so...
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When was this "compelling seasonal experience" then ??, do they actually believe this ?? .. Because I have seen more compelling story telling in a Witcher 3 ten minute side quest than these so called "compelling seasonal experiences" they claim to have made. Hey everyone, remember Eido ?? .. No, me either. She appeared, acted high and mighty for a bit while Bungie pointed and shouted "Look everyone, female character being all assertive and stuff" and then .. nothing. What you get as a story is a weak sauce narrative peppered with "Hey, care about this". The seasonal experience is like that Skeletor meme where he says something, then gets up and shouts "Until next time !!" while legging it. I cant remember one season I actually give one toss about anymore or that actually made me feel immersed in the game. Or where anything we did actually changed anything. They probably did but I cant remember. Take the one on the Leviathan. All that effort only to see Calus in Lightfall dress up with a purple KFC bucket on his head, some exhaust pipes on his shoulders and be killed in front his daughter while being mocked by someone who makes Jar Jar Binks look like a triumph in storytelling. All you get every season is a six man horde mode, again. Plus a weekly story morsel from a story that finishes a month before the next season and ultimately means nothing. And the same 100 rank seasonal procession of mostly pointless tat. Oh, and of course, the Eververse refresh. That happens eight times a year with events but hey, Bungie are all about the storytelling right ?? Red Dead Redemption 2 does storytelling, Arthur Morgan' story is amazing and you feel like he's a real person. You care about him. Same with Kratos and his kid in God of War and Ragnarok. The characters develop and mature and invoke a sense of attachment. You care about what happens to them. Same with Geralt in Witcher 3, you see how good he can be as he is treated like dirt. You have choices as to how these characters develop and that makes you a feel part of the journey. In Destiny I feel like I am watching some kind of rubbish space opera where no one feels, acts or talks like a real person. Bungie does this .. "Hey everyone, this guys gay now. And his robot. Woo hoo, how cool are we ??". This is a game that ended a season with the gay Warlock feeding his robot boyfriend a tea made from a disciple of the Witness. That sounds like something written by a hipster tripping on waccy baccy. And I only remember it because it was so utterly stupid. I think Bungie need to go look up what compelling means.
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lightfall being garbage is more of a reason for them to screw over their community. They got nothing to lose anymore.
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Seasons were never compelling, they were always just an additional FOMO cashgrab. Bungie's way of introducing a subscription model to their game without calling it that. That goes for any game with a "battlepass" really. Bungie fits right into Sony's camp, charge more for no additional value. Because of Destiny 2, I'm forever going to be suspicious of Bungies games, and literally anything they say. They went from one of my most beloved developers to being one to watch out for because they'll shove a pole up your rear when you're not paying attention. Hell, even if you are paying attention, they just don't care. I remember when Eververse was introduced in D1, Bungie assured us the money was going back into development for free events and content. But instead of that I see more ads, literal Destiny sponsored ads, more in game purchases, more reskinned garbage, literal re-issued old -blam!-, more expensive seasons etc. Events are only "free" because they re-use the -blam!- from the last time the event was around, and introduce more eververse items to buy. It's shameful really... Destiny 1 positioned itself as a new incredible shared world shooter to play with your friends. Destiny 2 content is so segregated and paywalled that no one can actually play together without forking out money for each little piece of content.
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Bungie, you can't increase the seasonal price because Lightfall failed "Alright, bet." -Bungie
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Bungee: I’d say we can. We took a unfinished future DLC and split it so we could cash grab our loyal fan base. Push our unpopular Gen Z politics while charging more than we ever have in the past for an expansion. 💵💵💵💵💸💸💸💸🤑🤑🤑🤑
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Not just Lightfall, the last 3 seasons have been a cluster -blam-, bugged all to -blam-, hot fixes screwing it up more. but hey you can give them more money to make it better , never mind that 3.6 billion they got and never fixed the servers. hell they could have fixed the game so they would need to vault content. But hey who am I but a guy working hard for his money, where inflation does not increase my paycheck.
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What?!!!! Hahaha. What a joke they have become. No pride in their product. I guess I contributed to this “small” cash crab by not buying travesty.
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More money, more problems(bugs).
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The days of talent, skill, creativity, and excellent work ethic are over.
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RomanticRubberFist
Nonbuynary - old
Compelling seasonal experiences? [b]What?[/b] That’s beyond delusion. I’m beginning to think that Bungo HQ may be infested with some form of brain parasite. -
Edited by LittIeJim: 5/6/2023 10:06:53 AM30th Anniversary wasn't free, and "free to play" players can't play any of the content, except Dares of Eternity.
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¯\(°_o)/¯
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yes they can, thaycan do anything, it's up to the customers to reply with not paying, these people know gamers are easy targets, go figure
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Nothing new here unfortunately. Every year they spend countless hours of dev time fixing their own mistakes (and usually it is something that had overwhelmingly negative feedback prior to release but they did it anyway) and then charge you for it in the next major expansion, and increase the price year after year.
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Edited by Quiet_Bushi: 5/6/2023 10:13:35 AM[quote]Bungie, you can't increase the seasonal price because Lightfall failed[/quote] To be fair, Bungie can do whatever they want with theyr products. It's up to the cumoster to decide if it's the case to keep buying it or not.
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I'll forgo the next season pass and use that money to get dumplings and spring rolls with my happy family order. Love cheap Chinese food.
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They said the season will be better so I’ll hold out a little hope
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I'm just hoping that the competitive market means a more consumer friendly business model of another game bites into bungie's income. I really hope it does. I've already seen new player topics from destiny players in the warframe forums and reddit. 👍
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You can charge whatever you want when you are selling to a bunch of addicts. They will find the money.
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Edited by MrParadox002: 5/5/2023 11:07:55 PMHa! Uhh, no. Yes, Lightfall's story was a flop and deserved far, far more! But other than that, I've personally enjoyed Lightfall way more than Witch Queen. And the game even with its issues is probably the most fun it's ever been. Cuciable still isn't but it never truly will be, due to how it is on a fundamental level. I don't agree with them increasing the price, but it's only 2 US dollars more, and if the community at large really has a problem with it. Bungie will see overall sales go down and may have to change accordingly. But until something like that happens. Pricing will always go up the majority of the time. Not down.
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Sure they can, and they wont reinvest in new hires or upgrading support hardware... it's more of a marketing ploy to get more people to purchase the deluxe edition including all seasonal updates at the beginning. This way they can manage more money upfront to determine where they can put more money into... Now, I'm not saying that it's going back into the game, maybe a pocket or two... we will see....